21 Jul 2017

Posted at 10:57h in The Friday Brief by

Each summer about this time amid the lazy hot days of vacation and slower work weeks, I like to tell a story of my youth. This one is particularly timely as it coincides with Disney's hit movie Cars 3. If you haven't seen it, collect...

07 Nov 2014

Posted at 14:28h in The Friday Brief by
I got my first job when I was 8, selling The Pilot (Moore County's local newspaper) to businesses near my home 50 or so miles south of Raleigh. The gig was super simple in those times: I bought each paper for 30 cents and sold it for 50 cents. For four years, I sold the paper three days a week, earning a profit of 20 cents on every paper I sold.

25 Jan 2013

Posted at 16:29h in The Friday Brief by
Investors face a myriad of challenges today, including record low interest rates, stagnant growth in developed economies which are increasingly burdened by entitlement promises and growing debts, instability in the Middle East, and a level of uncertainty over tax and regulatory policy which is virtually unparalleled in history. But as daunting as these challenges are, they are not even close to their greatest threat. The most debilitating investment challenges lie within, and are compounded by the very financial  services industry they seek for guidance, an industry that is all too eager to capitalize on those weaknesses.